Charley Walters: Vikings would like to trade down

With the NFL draft just five days away, it still looks as if the Vikings will try to trade down with their No. 8 first-round pick but if unsuccessful take the best defensive player available.

Trading down, though, could be difficult because more teams seem interested in moving down than moving up.

If the Vikings can't move their No. 8 pick, their choice probably will be from among the following: middle linebacker C.J. Mosley of Alabama, defensive tackle Aaron Donald of Pittsburgh, cornerbacks Justin Gilbert of Oklahoma State, Darqueze Dennard of Michigan State or Kyle Fuller of Virginia Tech, or free safeties Ha Ha Clinton-Dix of Alabama or Calvin Pryor of Louisville.

There is no quarterback worth taking at No. 8. New offensive coordinator Norv Turner will try to improve QB Matt Cassel and develop a QB the Vikings are expected to take in the second or third round.

The Vikings also need to draft a backup running back to Adrian Peterson.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, there are seven -- not eight -- elite players in the draft, and they're expected to be gone before Minnesota picks.

The first five weeks of the Vikings' 2014 schedule are brutal for new coach Mike Zimmer. Minnesota could win the opener at St. Louis, but games against New England, New Orleans, Atlanta and Green Bay could leave him with a 1-4 start.

The Vikings' 2018 Super Bowl bid team is working all weekend to download on iPads the high-tech presentation it will deliver to NFL owners on Wednesday.

The Vikings say they have sold $30 million toward their $125 million revenue goal for private-seat-license season tickets for their under-construction stadium that is to open in 2016.

The Vikings are moving ahead with their attempt to land a Major League Soccer franchise for their new stadium.

Hockey fan Justin Morneau texted that Minnesota deserves a winner and that he is pulling hard for the Wild.

Morneau, 32, an ex-Twin, is hitting .345 with six home runs and 24 runs batted in and could be headed for the All-Star Game on July 15 at Target Field.

Former North Star J.P. Parise watched son Zach's Wild team play against the Blackhawks in Chicago on TV in Minneapolis.

"It's going to get a lot more intense," J.P. said Saturday about Sunday's Game 2. "The Wild have a good team. People don't want to believe that, but we have a good team right now. At the end of the day, we have a better team than Colorado because we are still playing."

J.P. said the Wild, who lost 5-2 Friday night in Chicago, "is every bit as good as Chicago if we play smart with just a little more controlled intensity."

The Wild-Blackhawks series features two of the NHL's best performers of the national anthem in Minnesota's James Bohn and Chicago's Jim Cornelison.

The NHL is expected to release a limited number of Wild tickets Tuesday and Friday for the playoffs against Chicago.

Ex-Gopher Ra'Shede Hageman, expected to be a first-round pick in Thursday's NFL draft, is to receive the Bobby Bell Impact Player of the Year Award on Sunday from the Vikings at the National Football Foundation's Minnesota Chapter honors dinner at the Minneapolis Hilton. Attending the banquet are Zimmer, Rick Spielman, Chad Greenway and Cordarrelle Patterson from the Vikings.

Tom Ward, who manages the hockey program at Shattuck-St. Mary's, had 10 alumni players in this season's NHL playoffs, including the Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon.

"(MacKinnon) has always been a real energetic player, a hard, fast skater, just like he is in the National Hockey League," Ward said. "He's always been an electric kind of player with explosive speed. He's also a really good kid.

"It's awesome watching these guys in the playoffs."

Ward's program produced three national age-category team championships this season.

Sam Deduno, who'll move from the Twins bullpen to start Tuesday in Cleveland, asked whether he knows if his unpredictable fastball will move left or right: "Sometimes."

Silas McKinnie, the popular former Gophers men's basketball assistant, will retire as a longtime scout for the Detroit Lions after this week's NFL draft.

The red carpet parade featuring baseball's all-star players on the afternoon of July 15 that will be held on Nicollet Avenue and Seventh Street in downtown Minneapolis could draw more than 50,000 spectators.

Look for the all-star players to ride in Chevy Silverado trucks.

Brooks Bollinger, the former Vikings-Badgers quarterback and Hill-Murray football coach who spent last season as QB coach for the University of Pittsburgh, has left his Pittsburgh job and is back living in Eagan. Bollinger is undecided if he'll remain in coaching or move on to his next career.

Pierre Page, the former North Stars coach who coached this season in Munich, Germany, will work in the Red Bull hockey organization in Munich next season but not as coach.

The Lynx have been without Seimone Augustus, Janel McCarville and Lindsay Whalen for practices because they're still playing overseas.

The University of Minnesota has named Rachel Banham its female athlete of the year and Adam Wilcox its male athlete of the year.

Seventy admirers of Marty Knight recently turned out to honor the legendary former Hamline University swimmer at a dinner at the school.

Nearly 450 Cretin-Derham Hall students and nearly the same number of adults turned out for a benefit for football, hockey and lacrosse player Casey O'Brien at O'Gara's on Thursday. O'Brien has bone cancer.

Virginia men's tennis coach Brian Boland, who is from St. Cloud, Minn., and led the Cavaliers to a 30-0 record and NCAA championship this spring, has been named the U.S. Olympic Committee's national coach of the year.

Twins curator Clyde Doepner will have memorabilia from the 1965 All-Star Game held at Metropolitan Stadium for display during July's all-star fanfest, which will be held at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Included are items that belonged to Earl Battey, Zoilo Versalles and Tony Oliva.

Also on display will be the jersey worn by Harmon Killebrew, who was honorary captain for the 1985 All-Star Game at the Metrodome and Gold Gloves won by Jim Kaat.

A map depicting the proximity of the St. Paul neighborhoods where hall of famers Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield and should-be hall of famer Jack Morris grew up will be displayed.

The Twins and Paul McCartney had little difficulty agreeing on terms for the former Beatle's Aug. 2 concert at Target Field, for which ticket prices will range from $36.50 to $250.

"An easy fit for the market," one principal said.

Tommy Fallen of Robinsdale has been named captain of the Yale hockey team.

Annie Hart of Stillwater and St. Paul Academy and Charlie Mosey of Prior Lake, representing Dartmouth, made All-Ivy League in skiing and hockey, respectively.

Joining Sean Aronson for St. Paul Saints broadcasts this season will be Sam Hovan and J.W. Cox.

Carin Anderson of the Wild will speak at the Corporate Ticket Impact Conference on May 20 in Flushing, N.Y.

Canadian Olympian Nate Brannen, who has run a 3:52.63 mile, is among competitors for Thursday evening's Medtronic TC mile race on Nicollet Mall.

Wally Ellenson, who left the Gophers basketball team to focus on high jumping with the track team and hopes to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, had a personal best leap of 7 feet, 2 1/2 inches at the Drake Relays. His jump is the best in the Big Ten this spring.

Ex-Twin and future hall of famer Jim Thome will compete in a Hall of Fame Classic home run contest May 24 in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Augsburg's Tanner Oakes, son of Gophers pitching coach Todd Oakes, was named MIAC pitcher of the week after two victories that included 19 strikeouts in 15 innings.

Farmington's Nadia Lorencz, a former state champion in the long jump and 100-meter hurdles, is competing as a freshman for the Michigan State women's track team.

Minneapolis' Larry Fitzgerald Jr. of the Arizona Cardinals had Kurt Warner and Richard Sherman among celebrities for his charity fundraiser softball game the other day in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The St. Paul Old Timers Fast Pitch Softball Association will honor the 1961 third-place finishers in the world tournament, St. Paul 7UP, that featured Dutch Elbers and Jerry Schaber at a luncheon May 14 at Gulden's Restaurant in Maplewood, with Dick Jonckowski as speaker.

Ex-Twin David Ortiz's journey from the Dominican Republic to stardom with the Boston Red Sox will be examined by the EPIX channel on July 17.

University of St. Thomas first baseman Tyler Peterson, a senior from Eden Prairie, reached base in all 10 plate appearances in the Tommies' 13-6, 10-4 sweep of St. John's the other day. St. Thomas (27-7) is closing in on its 12th straight MIAC regular-season championship.

Bob Ryan, the former KSTP-TV broadcaster who died at age 89 the other day, was the son of W.D. "Rosy" Ryan, the longtime general manager of the Minneapolis Millers, a former Class AAA farm team of the New York Giants-San Francisco Giants.

St Paul's Mark Nelson was to referee Saturday's World Boxing Organization super middleweight championship fight between Arthur Abraham (Germany) and Nikola Sjekloca (Montenegro) in the Velodrom in Berlin. It was Nelson's 73rd world championship assignment.

White Bear hockey grad Tim Hambly plays for the Ingolstadt Panthers, who the other day won Game 7 of their German Hockey League championship round against the home team Cologne Sharks before a sold-out crowd of 18,500.

Ed Cassidy, the new boys basketball coach at Park, coached former Gopher Trevor Mbakwe and former St. Louis University star Jordair Jett at St. Bernard's. He coached Simley to a state championship in 1997 and has coached 381 victories during a 20-year career.

In 27 games for Virtus Roma in Italy this season, Mbakwe is averaging 9.74 points and leading the team in rebounds (9.67) and blocked shots (1.59).

DON'T PRINT THAT

The Wild, at $245, have the cheapest overall median ticket price for the secondary market for Round 2 NHL playoffs, according to Vivid Seats. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks have the second-most expensive median ticket price at $342.

Pssst: Investors who brought the NHL-expansion Wild franchise to St. Paul put up a total of $17 million in cash. The balance of the $80 million fee was a bank loan. And the team was worth at least $150 million by the time the first puck was dropped.

Duke, which will have Tyus Jones of Apple Valley as a freshman point guard next season, is a 9-to-1 pick to win the NCAA championship, according to Bovada-Las Vegas. The Gophers are 100-to-1.

Not a bad deal: The Twins are still making all-star tickets available for purchases of 20-game season packages, but the $11 field view seats are gone.

Of concern for a Mariucci Arena renovation for a smaller ice sheet is a water table under the site.

The Timberwolves say Target Center, about to be renovated, is the 22nd-busiest arena in the nation, hosting nearly 200 events annually.

It will be interesting to see whether the NBA considers Jack Sperling, the former Wild executive who helped the New Orleans Pelicans find a buyer, as CEO for the Los Angeles Clippers.

Ex-Twin Scott Diamond lowered his earned-run average at Class AAA Rochester from 10.35 to 8.10 with a 6-1 victory over Louisville on Friday night.

The Twins haven't made the schedule for any of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball coverage to date.

Ex-Gopher Tom Lehman is interested in buying into the International Junior Golf Tour, which produces future PGA Tour players.

Forty prospects showed up for the St. Paul Saints' free tryout at the team's sports academy in Lakeville the other day. Saints rookies are paid $800 per month.

OVERHEARD

Vikings pass rusher Brian Robison on the departure of Jared Allen for the Bears: "It's different, definitely. You go from a year where you've got Jared and (also departed Kevin Williams) in your room, and all of a sudden you're the old guy. You never want to be called the 'old guy.' I had my (31st) birthday on Sunday and thought I would come in Monday and have a walker in front of my locker or something."